When traditions dissolve: concept, transcendence, and return

Religious traditions across cultures use conceptual frameworks to describe ultimate reality and guide practitioners. This paper argues that these frameworks have an internal limit: when fully enacted, conceptual mediation dissolves, not as negation of belief but as completion of concepts' formative role. Rather than shared doctrines, diverse religious paths converge on a trans-conceptual horizon characterized by unspecifiability. Transcendence is often precipitated by epistemic breakdown when established frameworks fail to provide orientation. Drawing on Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, the paper shows that those reaching this limit re-engage their traditions out of compassion, using concepts provisionally as pedagogical tools. Mysticism is reframed as an internal culmination of religious practice.

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Abstract

Religious traditions across cultures are structured around conceptual frameworks that articulate ultimate reality and prescribe practices by which practitioners orient themselves toward it. While these frameworks are indispensable for religious formation, this paper argues that they possess an internal limit: when fully enacted, they reach a point at which conceptual mediation ceases to function and dissolves. This dissolution should not be understood as the negation of religion or belief, but as the completion of the formative role concepts play within religious practice. Rather than identifying shared metaphysical doctrines or experiential contents, the paper advances a structural account of convergence across traditions. It argues that diverse religious paths independently generate a trans-conceptual horizon characterised by unspecifiability – the point at which conceptual articulation no longer governs religious orientation. The universality of this horizon lies not in doctrinal agreement, but in the shared exhaustion of conceptual mediation that emerges within distinct traditions. The paper further proposes that transcendence is most often precipitated by epistemic breakdown, in which established religious frameworks fail to provide further orientation or meaning. Crucially, transcendence does not culminate in withdrawal from religious life. Drawing on examples from Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, the paper shows that those who reach this limit frequently re-engage their traditions out of compassion, employing conceptual forms provisionally as pedagogical tools to guide others. By articulating this cycle of conceptual formation, dissolution, and return, the paper reframes mysticism as an internal culmination of religious practice rather than as a marginal or exceptional phenomenon.